The «Sharp Power» of China

With the presence of the author, the Spanish journalist and writer Juan Pablo Cardenal, CADAL presented at its headquarters the book El ’poder incisivo’ de China en América Latina y el caso argentino, with remarks by Marcelo López Masía and Sybil Rhodes.

The book "El 'poder incisivo' de China en América Latina y el caso argentino" (“The 'Sharp Power' of China in Latin America and the Argentine Case”) is the result of extensive research that took place over a year and a half regarding how the Asian giant influences academia, culture, media, politics and think tanks.

According to the author Juan Pablo Cardenal, "Chinese advancement in Argentina has been truly remarkable in the last five years, during which time China has established its presence in almost all spheres of life in the Latin American country. China has been so successful due to its strategy of "sharp power" in Argentina and due to the limited knowledge that Argentines have about China."

The presentation of the book began with opening remarks by Marcelo López Masía, Telefe research journalist, author of four documentaries and several books.

Next, the book was commented on by Sybil Rhodes, Vice-president of CADAL and Director of the Political Science and International Relations Department at UCEMA.

The author of the book, Juan Pablo Cardenal, presented his findings and held a Q&A session for the attendees at the end. Cardenal is a Spanish journalist and writer and has a Master's degree in International Relations. Between 2003 and 2014, he was correspondent in China for two Spanish newspapers, specializing since 2009 in the international expansion of the Asian giant. He is co-author with journalist Heriberto Araújo, on “La Silenciosa conquista China” (“China's Silent Conquest”) (Crítica, 2011) and “La imparable conquista China” (“China’s Unstoppable Conquest”) (Crítica, 2015), which has been translated into 11 languages. He was the author in 2017 of the China chapter in the book “Democracy Under Threat.” He has also published articles in El País, El Mundo, The New York Times, ABC and the South China Morning Post, among others. He is an Associate Researcher at CADAL.

The book "El 'poder incisivo' de China en América Latina y el caso argentino" was realized with the collaboration of the journalist Ludmila González Cerulli, collaborator of the Observatory of International Relations and Human Rights of CADAL.